Southampton were the fourth worst home team in the last term of Premier League having bagged no more than 17 goals at St. Mary’s throughout the entire season.

The Saints yet enjoyed a top half finish in spite of poor home performances, but the new manager Mauricio Pellegrino will clearly hope to improve these stats (which honestly should not be a hard job for the Argentine manager).

The first obstacle is probably the easiest one as Swansea City come to St. Mary’s to open the new Premier League campaign on Saturday afternoon.

Southampton

The hosts will rely heavily on Charlie Austin and Manolo Gabbiadini in the final third having also sold Jay Rodriguez this summer.

The team played hot and cold in pre-season but Pellegrino can at least be thrilled with the final test which saw the Saints beat Sevilla 2-0 last Saturday on the home patch.

Swansea City

The visitors, who have barely saved the elite class status last year, will be crippled in the final third in their season opener.

The star man Gylffi Sigurdsson will likely skip the fixture looking to complete his summer transfer and leave the Welsh side, while Fernando Llorente and the new signing Tammy Abraham are injured and will not be available for Paul Clement.

Southampton vs Swansea City: Head to head

Southampton have generally been more successful having won eight of their 16 meetings with Swansea City, but the Welsh team came out victorious from the most recent H2H encounter played in late-January this year (2-1 at Liberty Stadium).

Southampton vs Swansea City: Prediction

We are definitely not going to enjoy a high-scoring affair given everything written above.

Southampton kept their net untouched last Saturday against Sevilla and repeating it against the Swans should not be too big of a challenge for Pellegrino’s men.

Southampton vs Swansea City: Bet Tips

The main betting prediction is Southampton to keep a clean sheet at 2.00 @ Bet365.